After the Dust Settles

It is the beginning of May 2010 and as of today the draft is in the past and the free agency has been picked clean like a turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. Outside of some over priced free agent talent still to be signed, what you see on your team is pretty much what you get. Where does that leave the Ram’s? Coming off the worst year in franchise history Rams’ fans want to know how we’re looking now that the dust has settled. Well, let’s take a look.

Currently we have 93 players on our roster; a number that will have to be reduced to 53 by the start of the season. The 93 players are made up of the following:

– 41 players rolling over from 2009 who are still under contract

– 9 rookies acquired via the NFL draft

– 15 rookies picked as undrafted free agents

– 5 players picked up from free agency

– 8 2009 players sent to free agency and later resigned

– 15 players unceremoniously acquired through secondary sources

Drive by Analysis:

– Of the 41 rollover players, 40 of them are competent core players. One of them is a game changer and a superstar (Jackson).

– Of the 9 rookies picked up from the 2010 Draft, only one has the potential for being a strong value add in his first year. Of course that is Sam Bradford. My hope is that he is not thrown to the wolves to soon and effectively diminished for the rest of his NFL career.

– Of the 15 signed and undrafted players, our hope is for several become strong backups to core players.

– Of the 8 players resigned after being placed in free agency, they are also core players that were good enough to help the Rams accomplish a fine record of 1-15 in 2009.

– Of the remaining 15 anonymous pickups, a handful will make the practice squad and hopefully be able to contribute to the active roster later in the year.

The Bottom Line:

Look forward to another tough season for the Rams. If the Rams could accomplish 5-11 or 6-10, I think that would be good growth. Outside of Steven Jackson, there really are no other proven high achievers on the team. However, the NFL is a very dynamic environment. Every new player is a seed and a new source of energy. The combination of new players can create synergies that create surprisingly positive results. The hope is that leadership will be nurtured (Bradford) and that new superstars will born. Since we did not pick up any star talent from the free agency, we will just have to wait and see. (More analysis to come.)